Missouri Western falls in first round of softball regional

The Missouri Western Griffons out hit the Abilene Christian Wildcats 11-to-5 but it would not be enough as the Wildcats scored two runs in the fifth inning to claim the 2-1 victory. Western falls to 45-11 on the season and will play at 1:30 tomorrow against the loser of #7 Central Missouri and #2 Southeastern Oklahoma State.

The Griffons had runners on base all game long against the Wildcats but would struggle to string together any hits as they left eight runners on base. Western jumped on top of the Wildcats in the second inning when Becky Diehl blasted her eighth homerun of the season over the right field wall putting the Griffons up 1-0.

Allison Jones did a great job on the mound battling out of some tough situations to keep the Wildcats scoreless through four innings. In the fifth the Wildcats would capitalize on a Griffon an error and get two hits to push to runners across to take the 2-1 lead with two innings to play.

Western would get runners on in the sixth and seventh innings but base running errors would end any chance at a Griffon comeback as they move to the loser’s bracket of the South Central Regional Tournament in Durant, Okla.

Jones pitched an outstanding game for Western going six innings giving up five hits and one earned run while striking out four. Jones falls to 25-5 with the loss. Offensively, Shannon Pivovar, Ashley Hudson, Diehl and Keri Franks all had two hits.

Jacque Gregoire pitched all seven innings for the Wildcats giving up 11 hits and striking out four improving to 22-5 on the season. Brooke Whittlesey led Abilene with two hits and one run scored from the lead-off position. Abilene improves to 43-13 on the season and will take on the winner of Southeastern Oklahoma State and Central Missouri tomorrow at 11:00 am.